


Facts and Figures

by asexualjuliet



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin, The Baby-Sitters Club (TV 2020)
Genre: Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Character Study, Chromatic Character, Gen, POV Second Person, Podfic Available, aro/ace Janine Kishi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25886974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asexualjuliet/pseuds/asexualjuliet
Summary: You like facts and figures. Math and science—these things have always come easy for you. There’s always a right answer, always something you can do to make everything fit together perfectly.
Relationships: Claudia Kishi & Janine Kishi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	Facts and Figures

**Author's Note:**

> I finished the new BSC show yesterday and omg I loved it!! I was a big fan of Janine (which surprised me) so I wrote this.
> 
> Podfic available! Thanks to klb for featuring this fic in the Chromatic Characters Podfic Anthology!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

You like facts and figures. Math and science—these things have always come easy for you. There’s always a right answer, always something you can do to make everything fit together perfectly. 

Numbers and facts are like straight lines. They are flat, predictable, never changing. You find comfort in those straight lines, seek shelter from the things you don’t understand. 

As much as you hate to admit it, the list of things you don’t understand is far longer than the list of things you do. 

You don’t understand romance. You don’t understand the way your little sister talks about boys. You don’t understand why she talks about the prospect of kissing boys as if it’s her life’s ambition, why she looks at Trevor Sandbourne that way. You have never understood the romantic appeal of boys. 

(Or girls, for that matter. For a while you thought you might be gay, but the idea of kissing girls makes you feel just as sick as the idea of kissing boys).

You don’t understand art. This is where you and Claudia really start to branch off in different directions. You don’t understand art, with all its curving lines and unpredictability. Claudia thrives in it. It’s like she has a vision for how she wants the world to look, and she’s dead-set on making it come true. 

You don’t understand friendship. You don’t understand the way Claudia makes friends so easily, how she’s surrounded herself with a whole damn club of them and you’ve been alone with your facts and statistics for as long as you can remember. 

You know your parents are proud of you, proud of your grades and your intelligence, but sometimes you wish you were like Claudia. Claudia, who’s not book-smart, but might be the most emotionally intelligent person you’ve ever met. Claudia doesn’t communicate through facts and figures, she speaks her mind through romance and art and friendship and all the things that you could never hope to understand. 

You don’t want to be jealous of her. You shouldn’t be, you know. You’re the perfect picture of what your parents always hoped you’d be, the stereotypical Japanese-American genius who spends more time with her numbers and statistics than her friends. 

(Not that you have friends. But your parents don’t know that).

Claudia understands the things that you wish you knew, and the things you understand are the things Claudia wouldn’t touch with an eight-foot pole. 

You like to sound smart around her, though. You like to have an edge on her, even if it makes her hate you. Hatred is better than pity, and if Claudia ever became fully aware of the scope of the things you don’t understand, you think she’d pity you. _Poor Janine,_ she’d think, _doesn’t even know how to love._

So you hide in your numbers. Your facts and figures. And it’s a pleasant surprise when Claudia comes to you one day and asks _do you think you could teach me how to speak Japanese?_

It’s the first time you can remember her coming to you for help, and it feels nice. 

_Yes,_ you say. _I think that’s a great idea._

Claudia smiles wide. You can’t help but smile back. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> All mistakes are my own, please let me know if you see any!
> 
> Kudos/Comments are greatly appreciated!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] Facts and Figures](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27068962) by [klb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/klb/pseuds/klb)




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